Iberdrola expects sharp growth in profit in 2020

Bloomberg

Iberdrola SA expects sharp growth in profit this year, driven by rising power output after earlier investments in renewable energy and transmission assets ramped up.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 8.1% to a record $11 billion in 2019 from a year earlier, roughly meeting the average estimate of 10.01 billion euros by 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The Spanish utility said that it expects that number to grow by high single digits in 2020.
As part of plans to focus on networks and renewable energy output, earlier this month the utility reached
an agreement to sell for
1.1 billion euros its 8% stake in a turbine-maker Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA to Siemens AG.
The utility is widely expected to announce new guidance late in the first half. In the later part of last year, the company reached a 3.5 billion-euro asset disposal target early which was set for year-end 2022.
Earnings have benefited from increased wind output and helpful energy-retail margins, according to
a Bloomberg Intelligence note published before the results.
Iberdrola traded slightly down by 0.1% in Madrid, taking this year’s advance to 16%. That’s beating the 29-member Stoxx 600 Utilities index, which is up 10%.